[Surfnetkids: 22 Jul 2009] Book Exchange

Do you blog? I am considering adding a handful of mommy (and daddy) bloggers to SurfNetParents.com. Although I haven’t completely fleshed out the plan, I am looking for parents with existing blogs (or blogging experience) that would interested in the exposure that blogging on SurfNetParents would offer.

If you’d like to be considered, contact me at Reply to Barbara. Please tell me a bit about yourself, why you like to blog, and include a link to your existing blog.

Have you ever swapped paperbacks with a friend? Then you’ve participated in a book exchange, also known as a book swap or trade. Now imagine a website that gives you access to thousands of book-reading friends and keeps track of multi-way swaps so that you can send a book to Thelma, but in return receive a free book from Louise. Now you’ve got the ultimate book club for readers who don’t mind spending a few minutes wrapping up their old books and mailing them out.

BookMooch BookMooch gives you one point for every book you send, and a tenth of a point for every book you enter into your profile. Most books are priced equally at one point, and subscribers are responsible for the paying the postage for each book they ship. One usual feature here is the ability to request books from other countries, in other languages. When sending a book overseas you’ll earn three points (to compensate for the higher postage cost) but getting a book from overseas costs only two points. BookMooch currently has over 500,000 books to choose from.

Bookins Bookins (also with an inventory of over half a million books) uses a variable point system, where hardbacks and popular books cost (and earn) you more points than paperbacks. What’s different at Bookins is their prepaid postage system. They will email you a shipping label, so all you need to do is print it out, put your book in an envelope (or wrap it grocery bag paper) and slap the label on your book. But this simplicity comes at a price: $4.49 per item. In addition to books, you can also swap DVDs.

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a community of book lovers, and does not directly provide book swapping services. Instead, it is an “easy, library-quality catalog” where you can share what’s on your bookshelf and what you’re reading with like-minded folks. And on each individual book page, in addition to reviews, ratings, tags, reader recommendations and links to book stores, you’ll find a “Swap this book” link. That link will take you to a page that shows which of twelve popular book swapping sites have the book available for trading.